Improved amalgamator



J. B. ATWATER.

Ore Amalgamator.

Patented 'July 25, 1865.

Inventor:

Wifcnes es= I 5% AM. PHOTd-LITHILCO. NN.(DSHGRNE'S PROCESS) UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. ATWATER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

lM PROVED AMALGAMATO R.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,887, dated July 25,1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. ATWA'IER, of Chicago, Cook county, State ofIllinois, have invented a new and useful Apparatus forAm algamatin gGold and otherPrecious Metals; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a vertical cross-section through myimproved machine. Fig. 2 is a top view of the machine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

This invention relates particularly to a process of separating fineparticles of gold and other precious metals from their powdered gangue,wherein molten lead is employed to efifect the separation instead ofmercury. Still the invention is not confined to the use of lead.

The object of my invention is to con trivean apparatus which will takethe pulverized goldbearing sand from the surface of a lead-bath andthoroughly commingle the sand and lead, so that the particles of goldwill be separated from the particles of mineral, and the latter allowedto rise to the surface of the bath to be skimmed off, as will behereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, 1 willdescribe its construction and operation. v

In the accompanying drawings, A reprcsen ts a vessel, which, incross-section, may be made of a semi-cylindrical form.

B is a cylinder, which is closed at both ends, and arranged within thevessel A in such manner that it can receive a rapid rotary motion.Frictional or spurred gearing may be employed for giving motion to thecylinder 13, and arranged within the vessel A, as shown in Fig.2.

I arrange around the circumference of cylinder B, at suitable intervalsapart, a number of plates, (1 a, which extend from one end to the otherof their cylinder, and are pivoted to the end bearings, 12 b, in suchmanner that said plates can be made to assume the positions shown inFig. 1, so that at a certain point in their revolution they willconstitute buckets, and carry beneath the surface of the molten metalanything which is floating in their path, after which, and at a certainother point in their revolution, said plates a a will discharge theircontents and rise perpendicularly, or

nearly so, from the surface of the metal bath. To effect this movementof the plates at a at the proper times I employ a cam, G, at one end ofthe vessel A, as shown in Fig. 1, and secure pins 6 6 upon one end ofeach bucketplate in such position that these pins follow the course ofthe cam-surface as the cylinder B is rotated.

The curved guard G, which extends partially around the cam G, assists infeathering the plates a.

The configuration of the cam is such that the plates arise-perpendicularly out of the bath,

' andjust before entering the bath one of their longitudinal edges willbe broughtdown snugly in contact with the periphery of the cylinder A,so as to form buckets for carrying the goldbearing sand beneath thesurface of the liquid. When the buckets have performed their office assuch they discharge their contents into the liquid near the bottom ofthe vessel A by assuming the position shown in Fig. 1.

A simple wheel with fixed buckets would take the powdered quartz beneaththe surface of the lead bath, but the quartz might become so packed inthe buckets that it will revolve with the wheel instead of beingdischarged into the body of the lead. By my invention there can be noneof the quartz-sand carried above the surface of the lead or beyond thede sired point of dischargebeneath the surface of the lead. In practiceI propose to employ a long cylinder with a great number of oscillatingbucket-plates arranged around it, and operating substantially as abovedescribed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The application of oscillating plates, or their equivalents, to thecircumference of a cylinder which is arranged to rotate within a vessel,A, substantially as described.

2. So applying movable plates to a rotating cylinder, or its equivalent,which is arranged within a vessel adapted for containing melted lead ormercury, that said plates will operate automatically for receiving anddischarging the quartz, substantially as described.

JOHN B. ATWATER.

Witnesses:

W. H. BUTLER, IRA TANTHIN.

